Away from Hell
by name-me
Summary: After the events of the closing scenes of "Go to hell" Season 8 Catherine needs a little cheering up and an old friend is there to do just that.


As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop her hands from shaking. She was photographing the body without really looking it. She couldn't look at it. The girl was so young, only 12, even if she did look much older. If anything, that only made it worse. She circled the body as she worked, carefully avoiding the blood, the metallic smell already filling the air despite its freshness. "Grissom." He looked up, the sorrow in his eyes almost equal to hers. "Will you be ok here for a while? I just need to get some air."

"Are you ok?" He asked concerned by how this must be affecting her. Seeing the girl falling like that and being helpless to stop it had to be difficult.

"Yeah I just need a break."

"Ok." He watched her leave, pausing to breath in the fresh air as she walked through the door.

She lowered herself onto the wall and took a long slow breath. It was only when she exhaled, hearing her breath trembling, that she realised her whole body was shaking now. She griped the wall tightly, rocking herself back and forth, trying to calm herself. The glare of the streetlight in the darkness was hurting her eyes. She closed them, trying to stop the aching.

"Catherine." Grissoms voice hung in the hot night air. She turned her head to see him stood a few meters away from her, his head tilted to one side as he studied her. "Are you ok?" He repeated his earlier words as he stepped closer to her. "You've been out here a while."

"Have I? I'm sorry I lost track of the time." She was about to stand up but stopped herself when he sat down next to her. He reached out his hand to hold hers surprising himself as much as he did her. "Do you want me to finish up here? You've had a long shift…"

"No. No you don't need to do that." She looked at him and smiled, trying to reassure him that she was quite capable of working this scene, despite her own flicker of doubt that she was. "I want to finish this. I just…"

"Needed some air." He supplied as her words trailed off.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "You're um…" She nodded to their hands, still entwined between them.

"Right" He said pulling his hands away, blushing slightly at the thought of his perhaps inappropriate gesture. She noticed his flush cheeks and smiled before turning to look out into the distance. Despite the heat, she felt herself shiver and drew her arms across her body. Grissom glanced at the woman next to him, noticing for the first time that she was shaking slightly. "Are you cold?"

"Yeah, I just can't seem to get warm."

"You're probably in shock." He said, removing his jacket. "Here." He draped it over her shoulders and she pulled it around her with a grateful smile.

"It's just so horrible. She was just a kid you know, not even as old as Lindsey." He nodded and gave a sympathetic smile. "I don't even know who was really the victim here."

"I guess they all were."

"Yeah." She looked down, not trusting herself to meet his eyes without the threatening tears falling. "She was supposed to be safe here."

"They weren't to know Catherine. Neither were you."

"Yeah, I mean who wouldn't trust a minister right? If you can trust anyone it should be them." She shook her head. "I guess you can't know who to trust anymore." He placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him again.

"Turned you into a real softy hasn't she our Sara." She joked. He frowned and removed his hand, feeling embarrassed by his actions for the second time that night. "No it's ok. I like sensitive Grissom." She smiled at him, easing his worries. They sat silently for a while before Grissom spoke again.

"We wanted to tell you, about us. We just didn't want you to think differently of us. And of course there was Ecklie…" She nodded.

"Did anyone know?" She asked tentatively, knowing they were both very private people and that he probably didn't want to answer questions about their personal lives.

"I think Brass knew and Greg…"

"Greg?" Grissom and Brass had been friends for longer than even she and Grissom had so his knowing didn't surprise her but Greg knowing was much more of a shock.

"Yeah, you know he and Sara have always been… well he notices things about her. I don't think she ever actually told him, he just worked it out."

"Well he was trained by some of the best CSI's in the business." She said giving him a friendly nudge.

"He was all Saras work really." He said, smiling at the thought of her.

"She's lucky to have you, you know." He looked at her and smiled. "You really love her don't you?" She didn't know why it surprised her. Love was not the kind of thing that Gill Grisssom would be flippant about and he had told them outright how he felt about her.

"I do." He nodded, the sincerity in his voice leaving Catherine without a doubt that their relationship was the real thing. "I don't know what I would do if we hadn't found her…" Now it was Catherines turn to comfort him, taking hold of his hand and offering him a sympathetic smile.

"Look at us." She laughed. "Talk about negative thoughts." He smiled at this, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I was supposed to be coming out here to cheer you up."

"I told you I didn't need cheering up, I just…"

"Needed some air." They said in unison.

"Yeah." She nodded and looked down at their hands. "We, err, we better get back. Brass will wondering where we have gotten to." They stood up and she handed him back his coat.

"Keep it." He offered. "If you need it that is."

"No it's ok. I don't feel so cold anymore."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Let me know what you think. x


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